Supervised legal practice - how to satisfy the two year requirement

Completing a Bachelor of Laws (or equivalent qualification) and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice will enable a law student to apply to be admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of their state and obtain a practising certificate. This is not where the process of becoming a lawyer ends. Two years of supervised practice on a conditional practising certificate is required in most Australian jurisdictions before a junior lawyer can remove the condition from their practising certificate and practice as an unsupervised lawyer. So how does supervised practise work? In this blog post I examine supervised legal practice requirements in NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Requirements vary across jurisdictions so always make sure you double check your local profession rules.  

New South Wales and Victoria

Overview

The Legal Profession Uniform Law (Uniform Law) and Legal Profession General Uniform Rules 2015 (Uniform General Rules) have been incorporated in both New South Wales and Victoria laws, harmonizing legal profession rules in these jurisdictions. Section 49 of the Uniform Law provides that a holder of an Australian practicing certificate can only engage in supervised legal practice until a period or periods of two years of supervised legal practice has been obtained (or 18 months where the holder completed practical legal training principally under the supervision of an Australian lawyer to qualify for admission to practice). Section 49 uses the expression “period or periods”, and the supervised legal practice can be completed in one period of work on a full time basis (or part time equivalent), or two or more periods of work on a full time basis (or part time equivalent) that is equivalent to the period of supervised practice required (Rule 14 Uniform General Rules). Note this differs from other jurisdictions such as South Australia which requires the period of supervised legal practice to be “continuous”.  The relevant local regulatory authority in NSW or Victoria can exempt a person from the supervision requirement if satisfied the person does not need to be supervised or only needs supervision for a shorter period (s.49(4)).

Who can supervise?

The following Australian legal practitioners can provide supervision:

1.     A lawyer employed in a law practice where at least one legal practitioner at the law practice is an authorized principal and the legal practitioner engages in practice under the supervision of the authorized principal;

2.     A principal (or partner) of a law practice where the principal engaged in practice under the supervision of the authorized principal;

3.     A lawyer engaged as a corporate legal practitioner (ie an in-house lawyer working for a bank) where the person holds, or is eligible to hold but is exempt from holding a practicing certificate, authorizing the holder to supervise legal practice by others; and

4.     A lawyer engaged as a government legal practitioner (ie an in-house lawyer working in a government department) where the person holds, or is eligible to hold but is exempt from holding a practicing certificate, authorizing the holder to supervise legal practice by others.

Do not assume your supervisor at work can supervise you. Ask to see their practicing certificate and look at the conditions on the certificate. Make sure there is no condition exempting the lawyer from supervision. Where your supervision is coming from an in-house corporate lawyer or a government lawyer, where the person holds a practicing certificate make sure the certificate states that the holder is authorized to supervise legal practice of others.

It is in your interest to get the best quality legal supervision possible. Your supervisor should be experienced, provide support and regular feedback sessions, and be able to amend, override or intervene in relation to your legal work performed where appropriate.

What kind of work falls within the definition of “legal practice”?

Legal practice includes practising law or providing a legal service but does not include engaging in policy work, including developing and commenting on legal policy (see s.6 Legal Profession Uniform Law). A legal service is work done or business transacted in in the ordinary course of legal practice.

The Victorian Legal Services Board relies on the case of Cornell v Nagle [1995] 2 VR 188 in deciding what falls within the definition of legal practice. Work that falls within the definition includes but is not limited to:

• Giving legal advice;
• Interpreting and applying legislation or case law for use of a client, whether or not for fee; and
• Drafting legal documents

Work that does not fall within the definition of legal practice includes but is not limited to:

• Paralegal work;
• Working as a judge’s associate;
• Policy work;
• Working as a conveyance;
• Working as a migration agent;
• Working as a tax agent; and
• Working as a patent attorney.

Note that the work that is considered legal practice varies between jurisdictions. For example, while working as a judge’s associate is not considered legal practice in Victoria and NSW, in South Australia working as a judge’s associate is considered legal practice and time spent working as an associate to a judge can count towards supervised legal practice.

Applying to remove conditions of practice

After the two years of supervised practice have been completed, a lawyer can apply to amend their practicing certificate to remove the condition. The condition is not automatically removed. For example, in NSW, a lawyer must complete a statutory declaration, and attach letters from their supervisor or supervisors for the period and submit the application to the Law Society of NSW. In Victoria a lawyer must also complete a statutory declaration and provide a letter from their supervisor or supervisors to apply for the removal of the condition

South Australia

Overview

Rule 3 of the Legal Practitioners Education and Admission Council Rules 2004 (LPEAC Rules 2004) provides that a person admitted to practice cannot practice as a principal until they have completed two years of supervised practice (18 months where the applicant has spent at least 12 months in “articles of clerkship in South Australia”). The supervised practice can be completed in South Australia or in another State or Territory. The following types of work can constitute supervised legal practice:

1.     A continuous period of two years full time employment as an employed practitioner (or part time equivalent);

2.     A continuous period of two years full time work as a volunteer practitioner (or part time equivalent);

3.     A combination of working as a full time employed practitioner and volunteering as a practitioner for two years (or part time equivalent); and

4.     A continuous period of 18 months as an employed practitioner where the person has completed no less than 12 months service in articles of clerkship in South Australia.

A “continuous period” does not have to be with the same lawyer, but can be several jobs that make up the period. The jobs must be “continuous”, though this term is not defined in the LPEAC Rules. The LPEAC board reserve the discretion to permit discontinuous periods of employment, so even if periods of supervised practice are not continuous it may be still be possible to put this experience towards supervised legal practice where a special application is made to LPEAC. LPEAC may exempt any person from the requirements of any of the LPEAC Rules (r. 10.1).

Who can supervise?

Supervised practice can be provided by a legal practitioner entitled to practice as a principal. The supervised practice must occur at the location where the principal conducts his or her practice. Practically speaking this means the supervisor must hold a Category A or Category B principal practising certificate. Rule 3B describes Category A and Category B practicing certificates as follows:

Category A – a principal practising certificate which enables the practitioner to practise as the principal of a law practice entitled to receive and manage trust monies.

Category B – a principal practising certificate which enables the practitioner to practise as a principal of a law practice but not entitled to receive and manage trust monies, which category shall include practitioners who only practise as barristers.

The safest way to ensure your supervisor is able to provide supervised legal practice is to sight a copy of their practicing certificate and check it is a Category A or Category B certificate. Note that the supervisor and junior lawyer must be located in the same physical location unless approval has been granted by the Board of Examiners.  

Supervisors and newly admitted practitioners should read the Guidelines for the Supervision of Newly Admitted Practitioners (Guidelines) which were recently approved by LPEAC on 22 July 2016. The Guidelines provide a list of competencies that a supervisor must address to ensure adequate formal legal training:

·         Interviewing clients, taking instructions and generally dealing with clients;

·         Advising, orally and in writing;

·         Undertaking legal research;

·         Ascertaining and analysing facts against the legal framework of a matter;

·         Legal writing, including:

o    Correspondence;

o    Pleadings;

o    Contracts/deeds/equivalent.

·         Advocacy, dispute resolution/negotiation;

·         Planning the ongoing conduct of matters.

What kind of work falls within the definition of “legal practice”?

After you have found an appropriate supervisor you need to ensure the work you are doing can count towards supervised legal practice. Work that can count towards supervised legal practice is work where the supervised lawyer is engaged to perform predominantly the work of a legal practitioner:

(i)         in a private law practice;

(ii)         in a government department or semi-government authority, if the employment requires the performance of the work of a legal practitioner which the Council considers appropriate for the purposes of these rules;

(iii)        in a corporate legal office;

(iv)        in a community legal service;

(v)        in the office of the Crown Solicitor, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Commonwealth Australian Government Solicitor or the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions;

(vi)        in any other organisation, department or office which the Council approves for the purposes of this rule;

(vii)       as a judge’s associate which work so qualifies.

The work undertaken must be predominantly the work of a legal practitioner. “Work of a legal practitioner” is not defined in the LPEAC Rules and is not discussed in the Guidelines. However, the competencies discussed above give an indication of the type of work that should be undertaken. 

Applying to remove conditions of practice

To remove the condition from your practicing certificate, a statutory declaration and supporting letter from the supervisor must be submitted to the Board of Examiners.

Good luck with your first two years as an admitted practitioner. Take the steps now to ensure that your work can count towards supervised practice.

An open letter to supervisors of junior lawyers

I have been blessed with great supervisors so far in my (short) legal career. Some of my friends have not been so lucky. This blog post is a combination of my thoughts and my friends’ thoughts on what makes a good supervisor.

Dear supervisors of junior lawyers,

If you would like to be a fantastic supervisor that we remember for the rest of our career for the right reasons please note the following:

1.       Provide as much feedback as possible

Whenever we get direct, contemporaneous feedback, we can quickly adapt and learn for next time. Where you accept mediocre work and choose not to give feedback, we will not have a chance to improve. Do not wait for set quarterly or six monthly reviews, please tell us straight away each time you review a piece of work. Let us know if we have the structure of an advice wrong, if we have not quite understood a legal concept, if the wording in a clause we have drafted is archaic, if our email was drafted in the wrong tone, or if our attempt at plain english drafting was not correct. If you don’t tell us, we will forever be wondering in our heads, and this can lead to insecurity and a lack of confidence. Feedback works both ways. We develop as junior lawyers and you get the benefit of a more capable lawyer. We won’t be offended, or start crying, or think you are a nasty person. We just want to learn and do a better job next time.

2.       Give us encouragement and positive affirmations when we do a good job

We may come across as confident, but underneath the surface most of us are trying desperately to stay afloat and adapt to do legal work which is predominantly new to us. When we do something right please let us know because it will help improve our confidence.

3.       Value legal training and other types of professional development

Some supervisors view Continued Professional Development obligations as a necessary evil. Other supervisors view it as an opportunity to fill skill gaps. A good supervisor will take the second approach and make sure you are attending the cutting edge legal seminars and training in your area of speciality. Good supervisors also understand the importance of professional development including having a mentor who is not your boss and having professional contact with junior lawyers working in a similar field. Attending networking events should be encouraged and supported, even if it means leaving work at 5pm that day or having a long lunch to make it to a networking event. Overall, we will be happier and more productive at work where we feel we belong in the legal world and have contacts to use.

4.       We are capable of so much more than you think

Yes we can use the photocopier, do legal research, draft basic contract clauses and attend court for return of subpoena matters. However, we are capable of so much more. When the senior associate goes on annual leave, don’t be afraid to trust us with difficult work, even in areas of law we do not have much experience in. As recent law graduates, we specialise in learning new areas of law quickly and accurately (aka cramming before a law exam). Especially in situations where a niche advice is required, let us have a go before you give the work to a specialist barrister. Even where we still have to get expert legal advice, our preliminary advice can be included in the brief, save the barrister time and in turn save your client money.

5.       Share things about yourself so we can see that you are human

Please share anecdotes about your weekend/your family/your kids/your golfing trip. You might not think we are interested, but we are. We are desperate for information about you that makes you relatable (and slightly less scary).

6.       Let us know when to go home

Sometimes it is difficult to know when it is ok to unshackle ourselves from our desks and go home for the day, especially when we work in litigation or transactional areas of law where our finishing time will vary greatly from day to day. When you give us a lengthy task at 6pm, please tell us whether it is urgent or not, which will give us a clear message as to whether to leave or stay at work another 3 hours. I know we should have the courage to ask, but sometimes it seems easier and safer to stay at work and not ask the question of urgency, as we don’t want to be seen as lazy.

7.       Try and make it easier for us when we are asking for something difficult

Some junior lawyers find it extremely awkward asking for annual leave, sick leave, special working circumstances, or pay rises. If you sense this is the reason we are talking for you, please smile and encourage the question. Usually we have been rehearsing the conversation in our head for weeks and it has taken this long to gather the courage to actually have the conversation.  

8.       Keep your office door open (at least sometimes)

Although we can work autonomously for long periods of time, we will need access to you at least once a day to touch base and make sure we are on the correct path. Please make sure you keep your door open for at least part of the day so this is possible. Even better, come and talk to us at our desk where we are more comfortable and where we have all the work on our computer to show you.

9.       Understand we are not earning much money

Given the economic climate, quite a few unadmitted law graduates are being paid award rate, which under the Legal Services Award 2010 for a full time Law Graduate Level 5 is currently $882.80 a week or $23.23 an hour. Living off this much in Sydney or Melbourne is doable, but does not leave us with much of a financial cushion. When you ask us to pay for our practising certificates and claim reimbursement which can take a month, it can put us in tricky financial situations. Similarly, when you ask us to go and buy a colleague a present, and then collect money from other colleagues to reimburse ourselves, we are ordinarily always out of pocket (there is always one team member that does not pay). Please make sure this does not happen. The lowest earning member of your team should not be the one forking out. Most of the time supervisors are either not aware how little their junior lawyers are paid or are not aware their junior lawyers are out of pocket. Make sure this doesn’t happen.

10.    Care about our wellbeing (or at least pretend)

If twelve months have passed since we took annual leave, have a conversation with us. If we are sick, and there is no urgent work, send us home. Even if there is urgent work, send us home to work from home. Remind us of the workplace wellbeing services and encourage use of subsidised work yoga and meditation sessions. We actually would like to use these services, but are waiting for the all clear from you. Imagine how productive we will be once we get back from a mind clearing meditation session.

Yours sincerely,

Junior lawyers  

How to food prep like a pro for the working week

Staying on top of life administration like cooking as a junior lawyer can be tough, especially after 5 years flexible living as a university student. It can be a shock transitioning to inflexible full time work, 12+ hour days and limited time during the week. Being organised in the food department can seem impossible. But don’t give up. Food prepping like a pro is within your capabilities and takes much less time than you think.

Why should I food prep for the working week?

Food prepping enables you to plan and think about the nutrition you will need for your working week. Lawyers need their brains to be functioning optimally and bringing your own food to work is the best way to ensure what you are putting into your body will enable you to concentrate, identify errors and produce top quality work.

Food prepping will also save you time. In your 15 minute lunch break you won’t have to beat the crowds or stress about finding something mildly nutritious to eat. Instead you can go for a stress-busting power walk or keep on working so you can leave earlier that day.

Additionally, preparing your own food will save you serious amounts of money. There is also the personal satisfaction of finishing your food prep for the week and knowing at least something in your week is going to go to plan. Look at the Instagram hashtags #foodprepping  and #foodprep for inspiration and for an indication of the self-satisfaction involved.

Step 1: Make a food plan grid

Make a grid as follows:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast
Lunch					Lunch – Pho with colleague
Dinner						Dinner at Veggie Bar
Snacks

I eat leftovers on the weekend to save on food wastage, so don’t plan for Saturdays in detail. As I food prep on Sunday night, I plan for dinner on Sunday. Identify the times you are planning to eat out. For example if you know on Friday night you are eating dinner with friends and on Thursday you are eating out in your lunch break block that out.

There are two kinds of food preppers in the world:

1.       Those who prepare and eat the same food every single week; and

2.       Those who like variety and could not eat roast vegetable and quinoa salad for more than two days in a row.

I fall into the later category and thrive off variety. If you are the type of person who does not need variety in their life, you can save a lot of time by cooking large quantities of the same dish. However, beware of food poisoning. Food should be consumed within 3 days of cooking (some food goes off even more quickly and should be consumed within 2 days of cooking). If you are cooking on Sunday, it would be unsafe to eat your food on Thursday and Friday. If you cook too many portions, freeze the leftover portions before they go off and use these ready to go freezer meals in times of need.

Step 2: Plan your meals and snacks

Cooks tend to either like following recipes or not. I highly recommend following recipes if you are starting out as a food prepper. Mastering a small number of simple recipes will drastically improve the quality and taste of your cooking and give you an idea of flavour and ingredient combinations that work together. Following recipes also enables you to identify and plan the quantities of ingredients you require. Get out your cookbooks or print off recipes you have found from the internet. Recipe selection is key. Make sure you select recipes that are quick to make and nutritious. You are not going to have time to slow cook an eight hour pork shoulder in the middle of the week. 

Here is a picture of cook books I have on high rotation at the moment. Remember to look at the quantities in your recipes. If the recipe feeds four, and you are just cooking for yourself, you should halve the recipe which will make you two meals (unless you don’t need variety in your life and want to eat four of the same meals or are planning to freeze some meals). Don’t be scared to use recipes you have found on the internet. I often use the recipes on movenourishbelieve.com, as they are quick and easy for lunch and the ingredients are often substitutable.

Don’t forget to plan all your meals, including breakfast. After you become more experienced at food prepping you will probably have a few standard breakfasts you rotate through as well as snacks, so you might not need to write it down, but for now, write down everything.

Don’t forget to plan your snacks. Snacks I commonly plan for and eat at work include:

1.       Two Crackers (Vita Weat 9 Grain 100% Natural or Real Foods Multigrain Cornthins) with 20g cheese (fetta, cottage cheese, ricotta, or cheddar) and vegetables;

2.       Small container (100g) of plain greek yoghurt (Chobani is my favourite) with sprinkle of homemade granola or topping of fruit;

3.       Banana and handful of natural almonds;

4.       Boiled egg and vegetable sticks;

5.       Handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half with fetta sprinkled on top;

6.       Chickpea bombs (chickpeas I have dry roasted in the oven with paprika to much them crunchy);

7.       Thick slices of cucumber with 100% nut butter on top;

8.       Homemade fruit salad.

This is what my completed grid looks like this week

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast		Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit	Yoghurt, HM granola, fruit
Lunch		Poached chicken, pomegranate and kale salad	Poached chicken, pomegranate and kale salad	Chickpea, roast vegetable and salad wrap	Lunch – Pho with colleague	Chickpea, roast vegetable and salad wrap
Dinner	Beef and veg stir fry with brown rice	Beef and veg stir fry with brown rice	Poached chicken and roast vegetables	Miso broth, veggies and egg	Miso broth, veggies and egg	Dinner at Veggie Bar
Snacks		Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.	Cucumber with peanut butter. Crackers, cheese and vegetable sticks.

It does not matter if your planning grid is a bit less formal. It does not matter if your planning grid does not look pretty. I usually do my planning grid by hand on a sticky note. Over time you may eliminate categories such as breakfast and snacks because you know what you are going to eat. Just don’t forget to continue to write the ingredients you need to buy on your shopping list.

When planning your meals, remember that meat quickly goes off, so plan vegetarian food for later in the week. You will see I am eating beef tonight and tomorrow night followed by chicken. I then eat vegetarian for the rest of the week. I usually eat fish quite a lot but because I had fish for almost every meal last week I am not having it this week. If you did buy fish, you would want to eat that on Sunday night, then the beef, then the chicken. If you don’t like cooking vegetarian you might have to eat meals you have pre-prepared and frozen in the second half of the week.

I eat breakfast at my desk when I get to work, and I love yoghurt with homemade granola (which I bake in massive batches) and seasonal fruit. If I feel like protein for breakfast I might bring a boiled egg and have it with toast.

You will also notice I am eating the same snacks every day this week. This works for me, as I bring all those ingredients to work for the week. Each week I change my snack. You can change up your snacks everyday, I just find it easier to keep it the same for the week. 

As you plan each meal or snack, write the ingredients you need on your shopping list for your supermarket shop. Make sure you assess the food currently in your fridge and cupboards to ensure you don’t buy anything you already have. This is my shopping list for the week.

If you are new to food prepping you may need to stock up on Tupperware. Remember Tupperware is your portion control. Buy smaller Tupperware containers than you think. Remember you are a lawyer and while you need carbohydrates, protein and fats to function, the quantity you need is significantly reduced by the fact you sit down all day. I strongly recommend portion control sized Tupperware containers. You don’t have to actually eat out of the Tupperware, and if you don’t like plastic invest in some glass containers. I also recommend keeping some nice plates, bowls and cutlery at work, as eating out of containers all the time gets boring quickly. Remember that if you are working 12+ hour days you will probably be eating dinner at work, so you might need more Tupperware to cater for this.  

Step 3: Go to the markets or supermarket

I strongly recommend shopping at your local food markets. This is easy for me because I live right next to the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne, but I acknowledge it is not a possibility for everyone. Even when I shop at the markets, I will still need to go to the supermarket to buy essentials like tins of chickpeas.

To try and entice you to shop at your local food markets more often, here is a picture of my food market shop this week.

 

Step 4: Prepare your food

What you prepare on Sunday night will depend on a number of factors including what type of food prepper you are. If you eat the same thing for lunch and dinner every day of the week you would cook your dish and put it in containers. Meals for Thursday and Friday will go in the freezer and take out as needed. Remember to thoroughly reheat food. I don’t food prep like this because I really enjoy food cooked fresh. So on Sunday I will cook lunch for the following two days and dinner for Sunday night and the following two days. My meals on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are vegetarian, so I will do any meal preparation I can for that such as chopping the vegetables so they are ready to cook later in the week. Then when I do get home on those nights, I just have to assemble the meal which is relatively quick and sure beats a meal from the freezer. Good luck with your food prepping! May you never be stuck in a lunch time food court line again.

I am a lawyer not a nutritionist. This blog post is based solely on what has worked for me in my personal experience and is focused on how to prepare and organise food as opposed to what to eat. A nutritionist can provide you with advice on what to eat. 

Why junior lawyers should choose experience over size of pay cheque

In an ideal world all lawyers would work in the area of law they love and be paid a large amount to do this work. The reality for junior lawyers is very different. In the current legal employment market, law graduates are lucky if they can get any job as a lawyer, let alone a job in an area of law they want to work in. It may seem an easy decision to take a position working in commercial law, especially if a relatively large pay cheque is offered. However, if working at a commercial law firm is not your dream job, and you do not have the relevant experience at two years PQE to transfer to your dream job, it may become increasingly difficult to make that transition.

Why experience is key

The magic number in terms of experience junior lawyers need before they have real bargaining power in the legal market is 2 years post-qualification experience (2PQE). After 2PQE you will no longer be on a conditional practising certificate and are considered a fully fledged lawyer. The type of work experience you have at this point is key to scoring your dream job. If you have been job hunting recently you would have noticed that while there seems to be a glut of jobs for graduate lawyers, there are plenty of jobs advertised for 2PQE lawyers. One reason for this is that training graduates is expensive, and with the tight budgets many legal teams are operating under, it is cheaper to hire a trained 2PQE lawyer than train a law graduate from scratch. At 2 years PQE if you are not already working in your dream job, this is your opportunity to make the jump. However, you can only make the jump if you have the relevant experience. If your experience up to that point is not transferrable to the area of law you really want to work in, you may be in trouble.

The allure of well-paying jobs

After slumming it as a law student for half a decade, it can be tempting to look for the highest paying graduate job and go for that. Do not give in to this temptation. In Australia we have strong minimum wages, and regardless of what type of legal job you land you will be paid at least Award rate or minimum wage, which is sufficient to cover rent and living expenses.

You should have a clear idea of the areas of law you are interested in and the type of clients you would like to work for. Law students have a tendency to forget about the type of clients they want to work for when this is as important as identifying the area of law you would like to work in. For example, if you have a keen interest in employment law and industrial relations, your plan will be very different depending on whether you would like to represent employers, employees, or unions. These categories have a number of sub-categories. You will regret choosing the size of your pay cheque over obtaining relevant experience when you later try and transfer into the field of your dream job.   

This is not to say you cannot have both a job you love and be paid well for it. If you can achieve this straight out of uni, go for it. If your life’s calling is to work as a taxation lawyer in a large commercial law firm it may be that you can work in your dream job and be paid well from the get-go. For most lawyers, it can take a while to achieve both goals.

How to get a job in the area of law you want

At 2 years PQE you will have two assets broadly speaking:

1.       The experience and skills set you have gained in those two years; and

2.       A narrative.

These assets are what will get you your dream job. Speaking in the abstract can be difficult, so I will give some examples of how your experience and narrative can land you your dream job:

1.       You want to work at a community legal centre

With funding cuts to community legal centres around Australia, it is almost impossible to get a paid graduate position. Lawyers at community legal centres need to be able to run their own matters with little supervision, so there is a higher chance of getting a job after you have a few years’ experience. Experience in a variety of areas including leasing, family law, mental health, administrative law, and criminal law would assist in getting the job, but experience doing legal work for vulnerable individuals can be more important. If you find yourself at a commercial law firm, try and get a rotation in the pro-bono team. Even better, work at a smaller firm that represents individuals and has a large pro-bono presence, work for Legal Aid or take Legal Aid work as a lawyer. Volunteering at community legal centres after work hours will also show your commitment and add to your narrative.

2.       You want to be a criminal defence lawyer

Luckily, smaller criminal defence firms are often advertising for law graduates, as criminal law is litigious and junior lawyers are always needed. If you can show a passion for criminal law and demonstrate you studied relevant electives at university, you should be able to get a job as a junior criminal defence lawyer. Experience working as an Associate in the District or Supreme Court for a criminal law judge is also well regarded. What you do not want to do is go to a large commercial law firm and then later try and transfer to criminal law. If the only job you can get is in commercial law, at least ensure it is at a smaller firm where you can get litigation and court experience in the Local and District Courts.

3.       You want to work in media law at the ABC

This is a much coveted in-house job in media law. To try and get this job, you will not only need experience in defamation, IP, copyright and contracts, but you will also need in-house experience. It is traditionally difficult for graduates to get jobs in-house. However, if you find yourself at a commercial law firm, you may be able to go on a secondment to work in-house for a period of time. You will also need a convincing narrative that demonstrates a passion for media law and media issues.

Hopefully you can see how important the type of legal experience and narrative you develop after you leave university is key to getting your dream job. If you are fixated on how much you are getting paid, you may miss developing the experience you need to eventually get that dream job. Good luck!